On Friday, July 29, CRC CARES members from the Arlington office traded in their calculators and computers for gardening gloves and tools.

Participating in a half-day community service event with DC-based non-profit, City Blossoms, our team of 17 worked on planting and maintaining Marion Street Intergeneration Garden, a communal, educational urban garden designed to be an artistic expression of the Mount Vernon Square neighborhood.

Working alone and in groups, participants of this half-day community service endeavor helped City Blossoms weed, fertilize, and harvest plants, and also contributed to necessary tasks like managing compost, spreading soil and mulch, painting garden signs, and maintaining flower beds. At the culmination of the event, our team was invited to harvest fresh produce. Among the garden’s ripe offerings were grapes, cucumbers, chives, tomatoes, and jalapeño peppers; the last of which spurred an adventurous eating contest among some of our volunteers.

City Blossoms is a non-profit dedicated to fostering healthy communities by developing creative, kid-driven green spaces. Based in Washington, DC, City Blossoms provides bilingual, free, and affordable after-care, in-school, and summer programming to predominantly Latino and African-American youth ranging from ages two to eighteen. They serve neighborhoods in which children and teens may not otherwise have access to green spaces. Since 2009, City Blossoms has worked on 42 sites in Washington, Baltimore, and Philadelphia.